Maria from Herbert

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Maria Regina Freiin von Herbert (born September 6, 1769 in Klagenfurt ; † May 23, 1803 ) was the sister of the Austrian patron and lead manufacturer Franz Paul von Herbert , best known for her letters to Immanuel Kant .

Life

Maria "Miza" (also "Mitza") from Herbert was the daughter of the Austrian industrial pioneer Johann Michael Freiherr von Herbert and Maria Anna geb. Fux (1749-1779). She grew up in the Herberts mansion, the Herbertstöckl on St. Veiter Ring in Klagenfurt , and acquired the Stückler Stöckl in Klagenfurt St. Martin in March 1802, just over a year before she disappeared. She belonged to the circle of enlightened women and men from Klagenfurt and the surrounding area around her brother Franz Paul von Herbert , who was known or friendly to numerous protagonists of intellectual life in German-speaking countries. Maria von Herbert probably had a liaison with Ignaz Ritter von Dreer zu Thurnhub (1762 - 1842), who belonged to the Herbert circle. This "freind", as she called him, turned away from her after confessing to him a previous relationship. As a result, she could no longer give her life a new purpose, on what occasion she wrote her first letter to Kant in 1791. It reads: "If I hadn't read so much about you, I would certainly have changed my life by force." She asks Kant "for help, for consolation, or for notification of death". Kant replied in a longer letter, the draft of which has been preserved. Two more letters from Maria von Herbert followed, written in early 1793 and early 1794. Although Kant announced another letter to Carl Leonhard Reinhold in May 1793 , Maria von Herbert did not receive any more letters from Kant. On May 23, 1803, the day of her disappearance, she had a company in the Stückler Stöckl. She left them under a pretext and probably committed suicide the same day, which she informed her confidante about by letter. Her body was never found, however. As only became known on the occasion of an exhibition at the University of Klagenfurt in late 2016, she left an illegitimate son.

Correspondence

To date, only four letters from Maria von Herbert are known, but despite the poor orthography of women, they are distinguished by their philosophical rigor and literary quality. The fourth letter dates from 1800 and is addressed to the philosopher and doctor Johann Benjamin Erhard , her brother's closest friend. She asks Erhard to visit her suffering and apathetic brother or to call him to Berlin on a pretext. She fears he will kill himself. Her fear came true in 1811, eight years after her own voluntary death.

literature

  • Wilhelm Baum: Weimar - Jena - Klagenfurt. The Herbert Circle and the intellectual life of Carinthia in the age of the French Revolution . Kärntner Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Klagenfurt, 1989.
  • Heidemarie Bennent-Vahle: "'O my heart jumps in a thousand pieces'. On the correspondence between Kant and Maria von Herbert." In Die Philosophin , Vol. 7, No. 14, 1996, pp. 9-31.
  • Wilhelm Berger, Thomas H. Macho (Hrsg.): Kant as love advice: A Klagenfurt episode . Publishing house of the Association of Austrian Scientific Societies, Vienna, 1989.
  • Immanuel Kant: Collected Writings, Vol. XI: Letters 1789 - 1794 . German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, de Gruyter, 1968.
  • Rae Langton: "Duty and Desolation." In Philosophy , Vol. 81, 1992, pp. 481-505.
  • James E. Mahon: "Kant and Maria von Herbert: Reticence vs. Deception." In Philosophy , Vol. 81, 2006, pp. 417-444.
  • Guido Naschert: "Reinhold and the Kant reception in the Klagenfurt Herbert circle." In detours. Approaches to Immanuel Kant in Vienna, Austria and Eastern Europe. V&R unipress, Göttingen, 2015, pp. 161 - 168, pp. 575–577.
  • Max Ortner: "Kant in Carinthia." In Carinthia I , Vol. 114, 1924, pp. 65-86.
  • Bernhard Ritter: "Immanuel Kant, Maria von Herbert and the Klagenfurt Herbert Circle / Immanuel Kant, Maria von Herbert and the Klagenfurt Herbert Circle." In Christa Herzog; Barbara Maier (Ed.): Treasures from the library. Exhibitions 1 to 10 of the series 'Treasures of the Library' 2014 - 2017 / Treasures of the Library: Exhibitions 1 to 10 of the Series 'Treasures of the Library' 2014 - 2017. " Klagenfurt, 2017, 104 - 107.
  • Werner Sauer: Austrian philosophy between enlightenment and restoration. Contributions to the history of early Kantianism in the Danube monarchy . Königshausen & Neumann, Rodopi; Würzburg, Amsterdam, 1982.
  • Franz Sintenis: "Maria von Herbert and Kant." In Old Prussian Monthly Publication, Vol. 16, 1879, pp. 270–285.
  • Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Memories from the life of the philosopher and doctor Johann Benjamin Erhard . Gotha'sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart, Tübingen, 1830.
  • Arnulf Zweig: "Introduction." In: Immanuel Kant: Correspondence: The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge, 1999, pp. 1-44.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Archives of the Diocese of Gurk, PA Klagenfurt-St. Egid, Baptismal Register VI: 119v; Carinthian Provincial Archives, Genealogical Collection Zenegg, 17/46, folder "Herbert", slip no. 43.
  2. ↑ Kärntner Landesarchiv, BG, Hs 469 fol. 207r-v, 1802.
  3. ^ Werner Sauer: Austrian Philosophy between Enlightenment and Restoration. Contributions to the history of early Kantianism in the Danube monarchy . Königshausen & Neumann, Rodopi, Würzburg, Amsterdam 1982, p. 233-242 .
  4. ↑ There are contradicting information on Dreer's life data, cf. Guido Naschert: Reinhold and the Kant reception in the Klagenfurt Herbert circle . In: Violetta L. Waibel (Ed.): Detours. Approaches to Immanuel Kant in Vienna, Austria and Eastern Europe . V&R unipress, Göttingen, p. 162 .
  5. ↑ Immanuel Kant: Collected Writings: Letters 1789 - 1794 . Ed .: German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. tape XI . De Gruyter, Berlin 1969, p. 273 .
  6. ↑ See Immanuel Kant: Collected Writings: Letters 1789 - 1794 . Ed .: German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. tape XI . De Gruyter, Berlin, p. 331-334 .
  7. ↑ Immanuel Kant: Collected Writings: Letters 1789 - 1794 . Ed .: German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. tape XI . De Gruyter, Berlin 1968, p. 432 .
  8. ^ Franz Paul von Herbert: Letter to Erhard, October 7, 1804 . In: Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (ed.): Memories of the philosopher and doctor Johann Benjamin Erhard . Gotha'sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart, Tübingen 1830, p. 487 .
  9. ^ Bernhard Ritter: Immanuel Kant, Maria von Herbert and the Klagenfurt Herbert Circle / Immanuel Kant, Maria von Herbert and the Klagenfurt Herbert Circle . In: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (Hrsg.): Treasures from the library. Exhibitions 1 to 10 of the series "Treasures from the Library" 2014-2017 . Without publisher information, Klagenfurt 2017, p. 106 f .
  10. ^ Cf. Maria von Herbert: Letter to Erhard, November 1, 1800 . In: Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (ed.): Memories from the life of the philosopher and doctor Johann Benjamin Erhard . Gotta'sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart, Tübingen 1830, p. 463 .
personal data
SURNAME Herbert, Maria von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Herbert, Maria Regina Freiin von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian letter writer to Kant
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1769
PLACE OF BIRTH Klagenfurt
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 1803